The White Station guidance department is always looking for new ways to stay in touch with Spartans, and this year marks the beginning of a new strategy: pop-up sessions. These mini-meetings, which are currently held every Wednesday during lunch and Thursday after school in the library, give students a chance to ask their counselors key questions on the-go.

“The purpose is to touch more students and to be more accessible to the students,” counselor Tamala Brown-Malone said.

At present, these sessions are designed to address a new topic each month. The topic for September is the college application process, but it will shift to a new focus at the beginning of October.

“I think it has had a great impact,” Brown-Malone said. “More students are now more familiar with the college process than last year.”

Given that these pop-up sessions are still a fairly new addition to the guidance routine, students can expect some minor changes to the schedule throughout the year, including a potential shift of location to the courtyard. For now, however, the counselor meetings are on track for the same times and days.

“Wednesdays and Thursdays have worked…Our Thursday afternoons have really been our largest session,” counselor Stefanie McClain said. “Every session we’ve had 10-15 students that have come up with a variety of questions.”

Despite having only been in effect for a few weeks, student responses to these meetings have not gone unnoticed by the guidance department.

“With anything new there’s a learning curve… but the students have been very receptive… to both [sessions],” McClain said.